Tilting ladle



Nov. 3, 1959 F. M, SCHWEINBERG TILTING LADLE Filed Dec. 16, 1958 UnitedStates Patent TILTING LADLE Fred M. Schweinberg, Bridgeville, Pa.,assignor to Koppers Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationDecember 16, 1958, Serial No. 780,753

3 Claims. (Cl. 22-375) The present invention relates to improvements inthe general operation of tilting ladles for molten metal, such ascommonly used for transferring molten metal from an open-hearth furnaceto ingot molds, and more particularly, to an improvement in the generaloperation of the tilting ladle of my copending application Serial No.740,326, led June 6, 1958, now Patent No. 2,881,488, issued April 14,1959, of which this application is a continuation-in-part. Thisimprovement consists in eliminating the bolt used for restrainingengagement with the shank for holding the tilting eye in a lockedposition when not in use in the ladle of my copending invention, andusing instead a slot recess or groove in the top of the bracket forrestraining engagement with the eyelet at the end of the shank to holdthe tilting eye in locked position when not in use by restrainingengagement with the eyelet, rather than with the shank as in mycopending application.

To further protect the eyelet from disengaging from the slot, groove orrecess in the eye bracket, the sides of the ladle are extended downbelow the base of the ladle to prevent disengagement of the eye from theslot, groove or recess in the bracket when the ladle is set down on itsbottom.

With the p-resent improvement, manual removal of a bolt is unnecessary,for disengagement of the tilting link, prior to tilting the ladle, andmanual insertion of the bolt, as is also necessary with the improvedladle of my copending application, for locking of the tilting eye iuposition for a next tilting operation, after the dumping of skull andslag, is no longer required. The crane hook still can disengage thetilting eye from'the bracket and restore it back into the bracket as inthe ladle of my aforesaid applicatiomby lifting the eyelet at the end ofthe shank, groove or recess and resetting the eyelet in the slot, grooveor recess solely by manipulation of the hoisting strand of the cranehook from a point above the ladle.

With the improvements in such open-hearth ladlesr of my said copendingapplication, the skull and slag may be more readilyand easily dumpedfrom the larger size open-hearth ladles which are designed to containthree to four hundred tons of steel, and which are provided with bottompouring nozzles for gravity llow of steel into the ingot molds, and somust be later turned over completely, 180, to dump the skull and slagclear of the inner sides of the bottom discharge ladles.

The main object of my prior invention is the provision of a ladle ofthis type having a tilting mechanism incorporated as a permanent part ofthe ladle for turning the same completely over, 180, and which can bereadily engaged by the lifting hook of a hoist cable, solely bymanipulation of the strand of the hoist cable by an operator of the sameat a point above the ladle, without having a Workman go under the ladleor around the base of the same to connect the lifting hook to the ladlepreliminarily to tilting to remove the skull and slag. i` The physicaldimensions of steel ladles of said capacice ities are such that it is nolonger possible for workmen to manually manipulate the hoisting hookinto lifting engagement with a connecting part on the ladle locatedaround or underneath the base of the ladle at a region suitable forturning the ladle completely over. These ladles are built of the orderof 16 feet diameter at the top, 13 feet inside diameter at the bottom,and 15 feet high. Necessarily, therefore, any hook or eye for tilting avessel of such great weight must itself also be of such great weightthat they are too heavy and cumbersome for one or two workmen tomanipulate into lifting engage# ment while another hoisting hook issuspending the ladle in position for tilting by means of its bailthrough trun-` nions located somewhat above the center of gravity'of theladle.

The present improvement continues that invention with its simple meansfor tilting open-hearth ladles of the aforesaid type in the form of asimply operable pivoted lever, pin and link dumping mechanism that formsa permanent part of the ladle, but with a member in the form `of anupwardly open slot, groove or recess in the top of a bracket on the sideof the ladle for restraining engagement with the eyelet at the end ofthe shank of the link rather than by restraining engagement with theshank of the link, the dumping link alongside the outerside of thevessel in a position at which the hook grasping part in the form of aneyelet at one end of the shank can be grasped at any time by a hoistinghook manipulated into grasping relation by a crane operator above theladle Without having another workman first remove, and later replace, apin and bolt, and manipulate the heavy lifting hook into the eyelet ofthe dumping link from a position underneath or around the base of theladle while the` Vessel is being suspended by its trunnion and bail byanother hook from the hoisting crane above the ladle,

In addition to the general objects recited above, the invention has forfurther objects such other improvements or advantages as may be found toobtain in the structure and general operation of a ladle as shown on thedrawing and hereinafter described or claimed.4

Referring to the drawings:

Figure l is a schematic arrangement of apparatus embodying the ladle ofthe present invention with parts in section and parts in dotted lines toillustrate the various operations of the ladle; i s

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of theladle, parts being in section;

Figure 2a is a fragmentary plan view of a ure 2;

Figure 3 is a detailed side elevational view of the pin and linkconnection to the side of theladle vessel; i

Figure 4 is a detailed horizontal top plan view of Figure 3 10designates a ladle having a main body portion with a tapered side 11 andbottom 12, both of welded rolled steel plate 13.

The ladle is linked with brick 14 down to 350 tons. The bottom 12 issupported on a grid of steel beams 15, and is provided preferably withtwo bottom pouring nozzles 16 for gravity flow of molten metal intoingot molds 17 on a trackway in the pouring aisle alongside the openhearth 18. The ladle also carries as apermanent part a conventionalstopper rod rigging 19 for the outlets ofthe nozzles 16 which, as shown,comprises a stopper Vrod 21, rig 22, link 23 and operating lever 24. i

As conventional, the ladle is provided with a bail 25 and trunnions 26`positioned on diametricallyopposite sides of the ladle with the centerof the t-runnionlocated with respect to the center of gravity of thefull ladle so part of Figthat the top 27 of the ladle will rightitselfinto the hori-l Patented Nov. 3, 1959i trunnon block 29. The ladleis also provided with a reinforcing ring 31 and a slag runoff spout32for overow of slag from the hearth 33 directly into a slag bowl (notshown) at one side of the ladle when the ladle is alongside the pouringspout 34 for the hearth.

In accordance lwith the present invention, the ladle is provided with aneyelet 35 :at the radial center of the bottom 12, to which is pivotallyconnected a tilting lever 36 extending outwardly beyond the side of thevessel, preferably to `a vertical plane beyond the outermost periphery37 of the side of the vessel, namely the widest par-t of the top 27 ofthe vessel. A dumping link 38 with a shank 4t) is pivotally connected atits lower end 39 `to the outermost end of the lever 3d by a pin 39, andis provided at its upper end with a part in the form of an eyelet 41lfor grasping engagement by the lifting hook '42 of the strand 42a of anauxiliary overhead hoisting crane 43a. The eyelet 41 is `spaced from itspivotal pin end 39 by shank 40 to be extensible upwardly alongside theside of the vessel to be held there in position to be grasped by thehook 42 of the yauxiliary overhead crane 43a. A link retaining member inthe form of an upwardlylopen slot, groove or recess 44 is mounted on theside of the vessel in position -to hold the link 38 upwardly alongsidethe vessel 1li' with a tix to maintain `the eyelet 41 of .the link 38 ina vertical plane beyond the outermost perimeter 37 of the vessel vwherehook 42 of crane 43a may be readily inserted in the eye of the eyeletand the link 38 thus grasped by the hook 42 of the overhead crane 43a.Preferably, the upwardly open slot, groove or recess 44 is formed in theupper edges of a bracket 45 fixed to the outerside of the vessel 14),which bracket is in the form of two peripherally spaced vertical plates46, between which the shank 40 may enter and be locked in by theengagement of the eyelet 41 in slot, groove or recess 44 instead of bythe engagement of the shank with the bolt as in my prior invention. Theeyelet is provided with shoulders 47 which straddle the edge tops of thebracket plates 416 and thus `co-act with the slot, groove or recess 44to hold the lever 36 up in horizontal position below the bottom of theVessel and the eyelet 41 of the link 38 in position to be grasped by theauxiliary overread crane hook 42. The slot, groove or recess 44 isupwardly open to permit the link 38 and lever 36 of the mechanism tostraighten out when hoisted by the auxiliary overheadcrane hook 42, andthus pull the center 35 of the bottom 12 `around .the trunnions of theladle, 180, to turn the vessel completely over in dumping the skull andslag.

To permit the vessel to be set down flat on the ground without liftingthe link 38 `out of engagement with the slot 44, the sides of the vesselare extended down as shown at 48 to below the level of the eyelet 35 forlever 36, at the r-adial center of the bottom of the vessel, to form aflat seat for the same and thereby also enclose the lever 36 all aroundthe base of the ladle, thus protecting it from damage and dirt when theladle vessel is set down on the ground.

In operation, after the ladle vessel 10 is lled with mol-ten steel fromthe hearth, yand the slag therefrom overilowed through the ladle and itsslag runoff spout 32, the ladle 10 is: hoisted by its` bail andtrunnions 28 upon the hook 30 of the main overhead crane 43 and thenmoved over `to the ingot molds 17 when the stopper rod operatingmechanism 19 is then operated to pour the metal out through the bottomnozzles 16 into the ingot molds 17.

To remove the residues of skull and slag from the ladle, it is necessaryto completely upset the ladle by turning it completely over so that theslag can strike the skull and break the same away from the inner sidesof the ladle. Heretofore, it has been necessary to have an operator onthe ground manually swing a cable from the auxiliary hook of 4the pitcrane 413e and attach it to an eyelet on the side or underneath theladle 10. This operation is 4 hazardous and in many cases, the hook 42on the crane did not engage itself in the eyelet 35 on the iirst try.

With the present invention, after the metal has been poured into theingot molds, the cranemen manipulate the auxiliary hook 42 o-f the pitauxiliary crane 43a by manipulation of the strands 42a of the hoistinghook 42 from the crane 43a above the ladle 10, so as to engage theauxiliary hook 42 of the crane 43a with the eyelet 41 at the end ofshank 40 of the dumping link 38 while it still is held in the bracket 45by the radially outward and upwardly extending confine of the groove,recess or slot 44, above the base 'of the slot 44. This is done withoutany help from `an operator below and around the base 48 of the ladle 10,While it is still being suspended by the main hoisting hooks 30,operated from the main crane 43, in lifting engagement with thetrunnions 28. When this is accomplished without `any help from theoperator :around or under the lad-le, then the operator on the maincrane 43 moves Ithe ladle 10 over the slag pots 17a, and the auxiliaryhook 42 of the crane 43a is then hoisted to pull upon the dumping link38 so that the ladle is turned completely over las a result of the link38 moving out of the bracket 45 and pulling the lever 36 on a linetransversely to the axis of the trunnions 28. The auxiliary hoistinghook 42 holds the ladle upside down, while the ladle is still suspendedby its trunnions 28 from the main hoisting hook 30. When the auxiliaryhoisting hook 42 is released, the ladle swings back to upright position,since the ytrunnions are above the center of gravity of the ladle 10 andthe dumping link 38 is repositioned in the bracket 45 by furthermanipulation of its auxiliary hoisting hook 42, whereupon the eyelet 41is replaced in the slot 44 to retain the shank 40 between the spacedelements that form the bracket 46, and thus hold the lever 36 and link38 in position on the ladle for a next dumping operation.

As shown, the lever 36 is held up close below the grid of beams 15 byeyelet 41 at the upper end of the shank 4l) of the link 38 and slot,groove or recess 44 and a slot 50 is provided in the skirt 48 throughwhich the lever 36 extends beyond the outside of the skirt. The nozzles16 are so spaced from each other that the lever 36 is located -asufcient distance away from the nozzles, that the lever 36 does notinterfere in any way with the ilow of hot metal from the nozzles intothe ingot molds 17, nor does the lever ever come in contact with the hotmetal `from the nozzles during lthe pour. Alternatively, the beams 15 ofthe grid may be provided with aligned grooves within which the lever 36can meet, to be held off vthe ground by the link and bolt. With thesearrangements, the aforesaid hazardous operation is eliminated, and thenecessity of workmen moving underneath or aroundthe base 48 of 4theladle 10 to hand swing the hoisting hook 42 or dumping link 38 into andout of engagement or .to lock and unlock the latter, is eliminated. Thisis especially important for operation with ladles for three or morehundred tons, since the hook 42 land dumping link 38 must be made ofsuch correspondingly large size, that they are too cumbersome and heavyfor even several men to manipulate manually into and out of operati-verelation and the manual locking and unlocking of the link to the ladleis extremely tedious.

The invention, as herein-above set forth, is embodied in a particularform of construction but may be variously embodied within the scope ofthe claims hereinafter made.

I claim:

1. A ladle comprising a metallic shell having Ian inner lining ofrefractory material and `a bottom pouring nozzle for gravity dischargeof molten metal therefrom, trunnions secured at diametrically oppositesides of the ladle above its center of gravity, and a ladle dumpingmechanism permanently connected with the ladle comprising a leverpivoted at one end. to its bottom at the center thereof and extendingoutwardly laterally of the line of the axis of the trunnions to a regionbeyond the outer side of the base of said shell, a dumping link with ashank pivotally connected `at one end to the lever at the outer side ofthe shell in position to be extended upwardly -along said shell andprovided with a hook grasping part at its other end for grasping thehoisting hook of a hoisting strand, and a link retaining member mountedon the side at a location of the shell for retaining engagement withsaid hook grasping part at the end of the shank of the link to maintainthe shank upwardly alongside said shell with said hook grasping part inposition to be readily grasped by said hoisting hook solely bymanipulation of its hoisting strand from a point above the ladle, saidlink retaining member comprising an upwardly open supporting base partwith a radially outward and upwardly extending coniining part forrestraining engagement with said hook grasping part at the end of theshank of the link to permit it to be pulled out straight with the leverto tilt the ladle, 180, when the link is hoisted by the hoisting hook tocompletely turn over the ladle for dumping while supporting the link inposition to be grasped when the hoisting hook releases said hookgrasping part after restoring it on the link retaining member.

2. A ladle comprising 'a metallic shell having an inner lining ofrefractory material and a bottom pouring nozzle for gravity discharge ofmolten metal therefrom, trunnions secured at diametrically oppositesides of the ladle above its center of gravity, and a ladle dumpingmechanism permanently connected with the ladle comprising a leverpivoted at one end to the bottom of the ladle at the center thereof andextending outwardly laterally of the line of the axis of the trunnionsto a region beyond the outer side of the base of said shell, a dumpinglink with a shank pivotally connected at one end to the lever at theouter side of the shell in position to be extended upwardly along saidshell and provided with van eyelet at its other end for grasping lthehoisting hook of a hoisting strand, and link retaining means comprisinga bracket located on the side of said shell in position to receive theshank of the link and an upwardly open groove in said bracket at alocation to supportingly engage a part of the eyelet at the end of theshank to hold the shank at an angle at which the eyelet is maintained ina position to be readily grasped by said hoisting hook solely bymanipulation of its hoisting strand from a point above the ladle, saidgroove having a lower eyelet supporting base `and a radially outward andupwardly extending coniining part vfor restraining the eyelet fromfalling 0E the bracket when the eyelet is released thereon by thehoisting hook, and said eyelet being freely movable out of engagementwith the bracket groove to free the link to permit it to be pulled outstraight with the lever to tilt the ladle, 180, when the link is hoistedby the hoisting hook to completely turn over the ladle for dumping.

3. An open hearth ladle comprising a metallic shell having an innerlining of refractory material and a bottom pouring nozzle for gravitydischarge of molten metal therefrom, trunnions secured at diametricallyopposite sides of the ladle above its center of gravity, and a ladledumping mechanism permanently connected with the ladle comprising alever pivoted at one end to the bottom of the ladle 'at the centerthereof and extending outwardly laterally of the line of the axis of thetrunnions to a region beyond the outer side of the base of said shell, adumping link with `a shank pivotally connected at one end to the leverat the outer side of the shell in position to be extended upwardly alongsaid shell and provided with an eyelet at its outer end for grasping thehoisting hook of a hoisting strand, link retaining means comprising abracket of peripherally spaced apart elements with arcuate tops locatedon the side of said shell in position to receive the shank of rthe linkbetween said elements, and an upwardly open groove in the arcuate topsof said elements of said bracket, said arcuate tops being about the axisof the pivotal groove being at a location in a plane on the outer sideof said pivoted connection opposite the side at which the ladle islocated, to support and restrainingly engage the eyelet of the shank inthe groove of the bracket at an angle at which the eyelet is maintainedin position to be readily grasped by said hoisting hook solely bymanipulation of its hoisting stnand from a point above the ladle, saideyelet being restrained from dropping out of the bracket by the continesof the groove and said eyelet being freely movable out` of the groovewhen in the bracket to free the link to permit it to be pulled outstraight with the lever to tilt the ladle, when the link is hoisted bythe hoisting hook to completely turn over the ladle for dumping, and askirt arranged around the base of the ladle and provided with adownwardly opening slot within which said lever is contained when theeyelet is in said groove to avoid elevation of said lever by abutmentwith things below the bottom of the ladle, `and thus prevent the eyeletfrom being disengaged from the slot in the bracket when the ladle is setdown on its bottom.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 366,340Morgan July 12, 1887 665,499 Boldt Jan. 8, 1901 1,929,607 Pollock Oct.10, 1933 2,463,811 Schulze Mar. 8, 1949 2,881,488 Schweinberg June 6,1958

